part time work vs paying mortgage

Hazy

I'm currently on maternity leave and loving it! Hubby and I are trying to decide with regards to my work whether I should go part time.

Mortgage is currently £140,000 interest only but we overpay so currently treat it as repayment. If I go back full time we would be well off and able to afford our capital payments. Dropping to a four day week means we still would be able to afford capital payments but money would be tight though salary should increase in future.

We could of course stop making the capital payments altogether and the four day week starts to look more doable. Obviously at some point in about 23 years the bank is going to want their £140,000 back. So once the children are at school and child care costs reduced we'd have to overpay a lot but this would be in about ten years time depending on the number of children we have. We're both 30 so would be 53 when mortgage needs repaying.

Do you think that a four day week is sensible if we stop making the capital payments? I so would love that extra day with my son!

pollyanna24

Gosh, what a decision, and one I wish I was in a position to make!!

First, congrats on the bubba. I've already said that I want to have a four day week, pro rata on the wages I'm on, we could proabably just about pay the mortgage. However, I have no kids, so no reason for doing so.

I think it's all about a balance. So you may be well off, but you're missing out on time that you could be having with your child. All depends on what you want more, I'm afraid.

Me personally, I probably take the time off work rather than the money, but then I'm lazy. If you find you're not coping so well financially, then surely it's a possibility to go back up to 5 days at a later stage?